Sales Tips to Grow you Business *** Lease a Sales Rep

Customers and Prospects Have Fears 03/27/2011

Customers and Prospects Have Fears

Fear could be the most powerful motivator affecting your Customers/Prospects. In order to maintain an image of power and control, Customers/Prospects may not reveal the underlying anxieties affecting their decisions. Some of these anxieties are obvious; others are subtle. You’ll increase your sales once you help your Customers/Prospects discover their fears, show that you are sensitive to those fears, and lead Customers to the conclusion that our products, services and systems will replace fear with peace of mind.

As a parent with more than one child (3 actually), I discovered they are so different. Although I don’t have identical twins, twins can show dramatic variance in abilities, talents, personalities, emotional makeup, thought processes, and communication style. As you know, children grow up to be adults. Those adults become your Customers. And no two of them are alike. Like parents, you have to deal with a broad spectrum of personalities, each of which challenges your interpersonal skills in a new way. Although the following list won’t turn your into a psychologist, it will increase your ability to adapt our selling style to the Customers you meet. You can use this information to improve the bonding and create better rapport with your prospects.

Fear of Customer’s remorse.

Customers are afraid that even though buying from you today looks like the thing to do, they’ll regret that decision tomorrow, next week, or next month. This fear increases in direct proportion to the price and the number of choices they must pick from.

Fear that the wrong choice will diminish respect and esteem from others.

Peer pressure does not lose impact once we leave our teens. We continue to vie for the approval and recognition of our peers. This fear increases if the Customer has strong social needs, serves a domineering boss, works in a team environment, or is employed by a company demanding continuous improvement and excellence.

Fear of losing self-esteem.

We all want to feel good about ourselves. Making the wrong decision and suffering the consequences of that error can cause self-respect to plummet

Fear that the wrong decision could ruin a career.

For some Customers the wrong decision might mean a pink slip. A corporate culture where one mistake is your last mistake creates paralysis by analysis. Of course, the right decision of significance could bring kudos and eternal gratitude from upper management and even shareholders.

Fear that the wrong decision could mean disaster or the end of the company.

Some decisions carry life-and-death consequences for the person or the company. A Customer who realizes the company is on the edge of survival may lack the courage to make a decision of major proportions. A Customer who has to be very careful with limited resources is in the same position.

Fear of the unknown.

Regardless of assurances and guarantees from you, Customers may be more content to stick with a painful status quo than to opt for an uncertain future. They may not like what they currently have, but they know what they currently have. The future is too big a question mark to take any risks. This fear is especially pronounced for Customers whose job may not be assured and for those who lack self-confidence.

Fear of relinquishing control to you.

Like all people, Customers want to feel in control and have the upper hand. They want to call the shots, establish the agenda, and have autonomy. They are comforted by the power of being able to delay purchase decisions as long as they want. One you interfere with that control, you reduce their power and elevate their fears. The advice in the following chapters allows Customers to feel in control of the buying process.

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Thank You??? What? 03/03/2011

Thank You? What??

 Donald, one of our sales reps is always the first one at work every single day. Always by 8 am. Not 8:05 am but 8:00 am sharp. Donald also wears his suit coat at his desk. I’ve known very few men who wear their suit coats while sitting in their own office unless they were cold. Donald wasn’t cold, he is particular.

A creature of habit.

Some would say obsessive.

Here’s what Donald does the first thing each and every day: he writes Thank You notes. Donald is the sales manager so he was aware of every order that the company received. If you bought something on a Monday, Donald would write you a Thank You note on Tuesday.  

One day I asked Donald why he wrote a Thank You note to each and every person that bought something from our company. The reason was simple enough: Donald wanted folks to know that he was thankful for their business and he was trying to differentiate our company from our competition.

Here is the problem with what Donald was doing:

1) As the Sales Manager, Donald was not involved in every sale. This made his Thank You seem hollow and contrived.

2) Many customers made repeat purchases on a monthly or more frequent basis. Donald sent them a Thank You just the same as he did for a new customer. This gave his Thank You’s the impact of wallpaper. “Oh, here’s another card from Donald – the 15th we’ve received this year!”

3) His Thank You’s were reflexive. Somebody sneezes and half the office says, “God Bless you.” Somebody buys something and Donald fires off a Thank You.

Don’t get me wrong. There is obviously nothing wrong with blessing someone when they sneeze and there is nothing wrong with thanking someone that has done business with you. In the South it isn’t unusual for someone to bless you when you do business with them and I’m okay with that, too.

Here are my rules for a Thank You:

1) Send a Thank You the first time someone does business with you. If your Sales Manager would like to send a Thank You, make sure that he sends it a couple of days after yours has gone out.

2) Make a reference to something specific that happened during the course of the transaction so that the customer understands that your Thank You’s are customized.

3) Take a hint from Donald and always handwrite the thank you’s if possible.

4) Find a reason besides “differentiation” to send a personal communication to your customers.

I started thinking about Donald and his Thank You’s because a friend of mine works at Nordstrom and she is talking about how she plans to send Thank You notes to her customers. This is a good way for her to differentiate herself from every other department store salesperson. But, rule #4 says that differentiation is not enough.

Think about it. She works in the shoe department and while there are those lunatics that buy shoes every week, most people only buy shoes a couple of time per year. The Thank You notes that made her different might be long forgotten by the time a customer decides to buy another pair of shoes. To make the Thank You work for her, she needs to have another goal, besides differentiation, in mind.

You may not know this but at Nordstrom, the salespeople, while they are assigned to a department, are allowed to sell merchandise in any department. Do you see where I’m going?

My friend is now sending out Thank You’s that look like this:
______________________________________________________________________
Dear (Customer),

Thank you very much for purchasing (specific product) from Nordstrom. With Spring rapidly approaching I wanted to let you know that in addition to being able to help you with all of your shoe needs, I can also help you shop in every Nordstrom department! Several of my customers already take advantage of this service, which costs nothing extra. So, the next time you come to Nordstrom, find me in the shoe department and I’ll be your personal shopper for as long as you need.

You aren’t writing to thank Grandma for sending you $20 on your birthday. C’mon, make this very personal communication work for you!

We hope this helps you grow your business.

Gilbert Pagan
Lease A Sales Rep
919-783-4182
www.LeaseASalesRep.com